Apparatus for playing golf



July 27, 1937. v 5. v. RADLEY 2, 8

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING GOLF Filed Nov. 25, 1955 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 27, 1937 Application November In Great Britain Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for practicing golf swings without aball and making practice swings with a ball.

Whatever the length of the swing may be, the

5 object to be attained is to make the swing in such a manner that theclub head is moving at its highest velocity at the moment of impact,this maximum velocity being obtained by a rapid increase of speed as theball is being approached,

this acceleration being produced by the action of the device and notbythe conscious effort on the part of the player. Also that a swingshall be a good one there must be no decrease in the velocity attainedat impact till the club head has passed the place, where the ball lay,by some distance.

Now in accordance with this invention this object is achieved byproviding a weight device adapted to be connected with the shaft of agolf club, so that it will slide up and down thereon freely during astroke, the device being composed of divided plungers attached to eachother by rubber springs and sliding up the shaft towards the handsduring the upswing and sliding down towards the club head as it isapproaching impact and finally sliding towards the hands towards the endof that swing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one form of device made inaccordance with this invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33, Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4, Fig. 2, with securing band removed.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation with the cover removed.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of one half of a sleeve plunger.

In the device illustrated I provide a square device comprising twosimilar sleeve plungers a, a of square cross-section connected by two ormore rubber rings 6, b". Each plunger is divided longitudinally intohalves a, a is flanged at c, c at 15 both ends to form heads and islongitudinally orificed by a hole 0 adapted loosely to accommodate theshaft of a golf club, the hole being square.

The halves a, 0. are provided with pins 6, e

0 and sockets J, J whereby they may be accurately adjusted and securedtogether. The pins e, e require to be fairly long to prevent the halvesa, a of the plungers coming apart. They are also connectedlongitudinally by rubber rings b, b of 5 square cross section disposedcontiguous to the 25, 1935, Serial No. 51,450

November 26, 1934 flanges 0 c at opposite sides of the axial orifices ofthe sleeves and with their axes at right angles to the said sleeve-axes.The rings are suitably connected to the flanges. In a modified form inplace of the rings I may employ two helical 5 springs disposed atdiametrically opposite points around the said flanges and attached atopposite ends to opposite flanges. In order to limit the longitudinalrelative motion of the plunger, I provide flanged members 9', y adaptedto fit 10 over the sleeve portions a, a of the plungers and abut againsttheir adjacent flanges 0 thus forming a square casing. A medial elasticband h with a fastener i is provided to hold the halves together.properly, projections is on member 9 engage with slots k in member 9 andprojections m and with projections m on member The sides of the squareformed by the flanges c 0 of the plunger heads should come quite close20 to the casingformed by the members 9', 9 so that the plungers will beguided by the walls of the casing.

Two stops are provided, one near the bottom of the shaft and the othernear the grip, to limit the downward and upward travel of the device onthe club shaft. The upper stop will be placed lower down the shaft forpracticing short swings than will be the case for long ones.

The lower stop will be placed at such a distance 30 from the bottom ofthe head of the club that, when the device is in its lowest position, itcentre of gravity shall be approximately in the-same place as the centreof balance of the club.

In use only the flanges inside the casing need be 35 square. The halvesa, a of the plungers are placed in position around the shaft, fittedtogether by their pins e, e, and sockets f, 1 and the halves g, g? ofthecasing are secured home into the plungers by the projections k, andslots 70 40 and projection m and hook 112 the casing being finallysecured together by the elastic band h.

In use the device will slide up and down the shaft being nearest thehandle at the top of the swing and nearest the club head at the bottom,and is stopped at the upper and lower limits of travel by the stops.

It will be evident that the details of the'invention may be varied inmany ways without departing from the scope thereof.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v I

1. A weight device adapted to be connected with the shaft of anyordinary golf club without structural alteration of said club, so thatit will 5 In order that the halves shall register 15 slide up and downthereon freely during a stroke, the device being composed of dividedplungers attached to each other by at least one rubber spring device andsliding up the shaft towards the hands during the upswing and slidingdown towards the club head as it is approaching impact and finallysliding towards the hands towards the end of that swing.

2. A weight device according to claim 1 composed of plungers which arebisected and when assembled form a square orifice for the club shaft.

3. A Weight device according to claim 1 composed of plungers which arebisected and when assembled form a square orifice for the club in theplungers are annular rubber springs.

BERTRAM VERNON RADLEY.

